A historical study finds no differences in psychological well-being or the quality of family relationships between children born by assisted reproduction (egg or sperm donation or surrogacy) and those born naturally at age 20. they start school, they can be advantageous for family relationships and healthy adjustment.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge, is the first to examine the long-term effects of different types of third-party assisted reproduction on child rearing and adjustment, as well as the first to prospectively investigate the effect of the age at which children were told they were conceived by egg donation, sperm donation, or surrogacy.
The results, published today in developmental psychology, suggest that the absence of biological connection between children and parents in assisted reproduction families does not interfere with the development of positive relationships between them or with psychological adjustment in adulthood. These findings are consistent with previous assessments at ages one, two, three, seven, ten, and 14 years.
The findings overturn previously widely held assumptions that children born by third-party assisted reproduction are disadvantaged when it comes to well-being and family relationships because they lack a biological connection to their parents.
“Despite people’s concerns, families with children born through assisted reproduction by a third party, whether it be an egg donor, a sperm donor or a surrogate, are doing well into adulthood,” said Susan Golombok, Professor Emeritus of Family Research and former Director of the Center for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, who led the study.
However, they found that mothers who began telling their children about their biological origins in the preschool years had more positive relationships with them as assessed by an interview in their early 20s, and the mothers showed lower levels of anxiety and depression. . Most of the parents who had disclosed it did so at age four and found that the child took the news well. This suggests that it is advantageous to be open with children about their origins when they are young.
In addition, at the end of this 20-year study, mothers who had disclosed their children’s origins by age seven scored slightly more positively on measures of the Quality of Family Relationships Questionnaire, Parental Acceptance (feelings from the mother to the young adult) and family communication. For example, only 7% of mothers who disclosed at age 7 reported problems in family relationships, compared with 22% of those who disclosed after age 7.
Young adults who had been told about their origins before the age of seven scored slightly more positively on measures of the Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (young adults’ perception of mother’s feelings toward them), communication (to what extent do they feel heard, know what is going on in their family and receive honest answers to questions), and psychological well-being. They were also less likely to report problems on the family relations questionnaire; while 50% of young adults told after age 7 reported such problems, this was true for only 12.5% of those told before age 7.
“There seems to be a positive effect of being open with children when they are young, before they go to school, on their conception. That’s something studies of adoptive families have also shown,” Golmobok said.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge followed 65 UK families with children born by assisted reproduction (22 by surrogacy, 17 by egg donation and 26 by sperm donation) from infancy to early adulthood (20 years). They compared these families with 52 unassisted conception families from the UK during the same period.
“The assisted reproductive families were doing well, but where we did see differences, these were a little more positive for the families that had revealed,” Golombok said.
Reflecting on their feelings about their biological origins, young adults generally did not care. As one young adult born through surrogacy said: “It really doesn’t faze me, people are born different ways and if I was born a little different, that’s okay, I get it.”
Another young adult born through sperm donation said: “My dad is my dad, my mom is my mom, I’ve never really thought about how things are different so it’s hard to say, I really don’t care.”
Some young adults actively embraced the method of her conception, as it made them feel special: “I think it was amazing, I think everything is absolutely amazing. Erm…I don’t have anything negative to say about it.”
The researchers found that mothers who donated eggs reported less positive family relationships than mothers who donated sperm. They suggest that this could be due to the insecurities of some mothers about the absence of a genetic connection to their child. This was not reflected in young adults’ perceptions of the quality of family relationships.
The team also found that young adults conceived by sperm donation reported poorer family communication than those conceived by egg donation. This could be explained by the greater secrecy surrounding sperm donation than egg donation, sometimes driven by a greater reluctance of fathers than mothers to reveal to their children that they are not their genetic parents, and a greater reluctance to talk about it once it has been revealed.
In fact, the researchers found that only 42% of sperm donor parents disclosed their sperm before age 20, compared to 88% of egg donor parents and 100% of surrogate parents.
“Today there are so many more families created by assisted reproduction that it seems quite common,” Golombok said. “But twenty years ago, when we started this study, attitudes were very different. It was thought that having a genetic link was very important and without one, relationships would not work well.
“What this research means is that having children in different or new ways doesn’t really interfere with how families function. Really wanting children seems to trump everything, that’s what really matters.”
This research was funded by a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award.
The Center for Family Research is collaborating with the Fitzwilliam Museum on a new exhibition, Royal Families: Stories of Change(October — January 7, 2024), curated by Professor Golombok. The exhibition will explore the complexities of families and family relationships through the eyes of artists including Paula Rego, Chantal Joffe, JJ Levine, Lucian Freud, and Tracey Emin.
Professor Susan Golombok is the author of We are family: what really matters for parents and children (Scribe) describing the investigation of new family forms from the 1970s to the present.